Feds to Vegas shooting victims: ‘We may never know’ motive

Less than three months ago, Stephen Paddock committed the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. On October 1, 2017, Paddock opened fire on concertgoers attending a country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip. From his 32nd-floor suite in the nearby Mandalay Bay hotel, Paddock fired over 1,000 rounds of ammunition, killing 59 and injuring 546 more. The killer then reportedly took his own life, as security officers were attempting to get to his location.

The aforementioned information is still all we really know about what happened on that tragic day. For months, local investigators, along with the FBI, were tasked with identifying a possible motive for the perpetrator and determining whether he had help in his slaughter campaign.

But instead of providing transparency, Las Vegas authorities and the FBI have gone almost completely silent since that fateful day. Over a month has gone by since the sheriff tasked with the investigation has updated the public.

The FBI has finally emerged from the shadows, revealing that agents still apparently have no idea why Paddock decided to take so many innocent lives that day.

Speaking with the Las Vegas Review-Journal last week, FBI Special Agent in Charge Aaron Rouse said the FBI hopes to release a report on the incident by October 1, 2018, which will be the one-year anniversary of the massacre.

The FBI and local authorities have had unlimited resources at their disposal. They’ve sifted through tens of thousands of hours of camera footage, reviewed Paddock’s personal history and his social media profile, and interviewed his close confidants for information on a possible motive. Agent Rouse said that they’ve interviewed some 400 people worldwide who have a connection to the shooter, in addition to bringing in 400 specialists to work on the case.

Yet after all of that investigative work, the FBI agent said last week that “we may never know” the motive for the attack. He added that he did not believe Paddock had any co-conspirators. On top of that, Agent Rouse said the FBI would not be briefing the public on the matter until late next year, when the Bureau’s report is released to the public.

Hundreds of American families have forever been devastated by the actions committed by Paddock on his monstrous rampage. They deserve better than this lack of transparency from police officials and the FBI. Investigators appear to have undertaken a massive effort to get to the bottom of the shooting. However, for reasons unknown, hardly any of the information gathered in the wake of the tragedy has been made available to the public.

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Author: Jordan Schachtel

Jordan Schachtel is the national security correspondent for Conservative Review and editor of The Dossier for Blaze Media. Follow him on Twitter @JordanSchachtel.